Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of multinational tech company Apple, claimed that his bitcoins were stolen via a credit card scam. According to Wozniak, he was in possession of seven bitcoins that were later purchased via illicit means. He explained, “I had seven bitcoins stolen from me through fraud. Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card, and they cancelled the credit card payment. It was that easy. And it was from a stolen credit card number, so you can never get it back.”
Wozniak revealed the theft during the Economic Times’ Global Business Summit in India. The value of bitcoin during the theft was $700 for each token, thereby putting Wozniak’s total loss at $4,900. Currently, that amount is equal to $10,700 – which pegs his loss at $75,000.
Wozniak was once a firm believer of bitcoins. He claimed that he wanted to use digital currency when travelling in order to avoid using cash or credit cards. He declared, “I had them so that I could someday travel and not use credit cards, wallets or cash.” He added, “I could do it all on bitcoin. I studied which hotels and facilities accepted bitcoin… it’s still very difficult to do so. I also tried to buy things online and trade bitcoin online.”
However, he has now sold most of his bitcoins and kept a few he could experiment with. He declared, “When it shot up high, I said, ‘I don’t want to become one of those people that watches it, watches it, and cares about the number.'” He added, “I don’t want that kind of care in my life. Part of my happiness is not to have worries, so I sold it all — just got rid of it — except just enough to still experiment with.”
Wozniak’s interest in bitcoin stemmed from it being free from government manipulation. The technology was also based on solid mathematics. Wozniak previously claimed, “Bitcoins to me was a currency that was not manipulated by the governments. It is mathematical, it is pure, it can’t be altered.” He also compared cryptocurrency’s value with house ownership. He explained, “Your house has value. And it is a house today, 40 years from now, it still is a house in value.”When Wozniak was attending the Nordic Business Forum in 2017, he once expressed his trust on bitcoin as the medium of transaction in the future.
